Sun visors are well known and widely used, and a great many designs have been successfully employed in vehicles over the years. Engineers have developed a variety of elegant ways by which visor bodies and other interior components may be constructed and mounted in a vehicle. Advances in design, however, can often add complexity to the manufacturing processes for interior components. There has been and continues to be a premium in the automotive industry on cost savings, and improvements in the efficiency and speed of manufacturing processes are often welcomed by the industry. An area of particular focus in automobile technology has been reducing the number and complexity of steps required to assemble interior components such as visors.
While manufacturing simplicity continues to drive innovations in the industry, loss of quality and performance in manufactured interior components for the sake of facilitating production is seldom, if ever acceptable. There is a substantial body of art relating to the specific structure of the visor to provide a strong, lightweight construction that matches or compliments the vehicle interior trim in a cost effective manner. Of particular interest has been the “clamshell” type construction which involves the molding of two shell pieces or clamshell halves which are joined to form the visor. In one typical clamshell design, the visor halves are formed as a single piece attached along a longitudinal edge, and then folded to form the visor body. The exterior surface can be molded to provide a suitable visor surface, or a desired covering can be added in a variety of ways.
The clamshell design allows the visor body to be constructed relatively quickly and easily, however, the various components that are attached to the visor clamshell halves must in some cases be incorporated with several assembly steps prior to securing the clamshell halves together. For example, several known designs require insertion of additional mounting or journaling pieces for retention of the visor pivot rod within the visor body. The construction of visors having such a design is relatively time-intensive. Moreover, the various slides, sleeves, retainers, etc. utilized in the construction can add significant expense and weight to the overall visor and increase the number of components.
Eliminating parts can reduce the expense of manufacturing and constructing the visor. Decreasing size and weight, however, can be accompanied by decreases in strength. Where rotatable visors are concerned, in particular, flimsy construction of the visor core and slider components can be insufficient to withstand repeated torque actions on the visor shell itself, in some cases causing dislodging or breaking of the pieces. It is thus desirable to provide a visor that is light weight, easy to manufacture and uses relatively few components, yet utilizes a design imparting significant durability to withstand heavy and repeated use.